Welcome to the Warm Colors Apiary website. WCA produces and sells honey, pure beeswax candles, and products using honey and beeswax. We provide pollination services to local orchards and farms. Beekeepers can purchase queens and honeybees, and attend workshops in the Warm Colors bee yards. In other words, most activities involving honeybees happen at our apiary.

Warm Colors Apiary was founded in 2000 to produce regional honey from flowers in western Massachusetts. Located on eighty acres of woodland, open fields, and wetlands, the land provides a variety and abundance of nectar & pollen plants that bloom from early spring to late fall. Having a location with flowering plants blooming successively throughout the warm months makes our apiary ideal for honey production and the raising of honeybees.

Our mission is to develop, test and use beekeeping methods that improve the health of the honeybee. Through selective breeding, we endeavor to manage a sustainable apiary system that minimizes the use of harmful chemicals and employ the natural defenses and heritable behaviors shown to improve the honeybees mite tolerance and resistance to disease.

Our goals include raising honeybees capable of surviving the rigors of a New England winter and having the individual & social immunities to withstand the stresses associated with honeybee decline. Our work focuses on using the best available breeding stock, providing natural sources of forage and nutrition, and the early detection and prevention of disease and pests. Proactive management that reduces stress and the resulting problems, before they become too serious to correct, is our long-range goal. 

Queens are sold out for the season.

Beekeeper Events:

EAS 2021 – Eastern Apicultural Society, Get ready Massachusetts as we plan to host the 2021 EAS conference. This is the premier beekeeping event that includes all states east of the Mississippi River and Eastern Canada. Massachusetts is one of the original five founding states that created EAS.

Franklin County Beekeepers’ Association – meetings are the 3rd Thursday of the month 7-9PM. Senior Center, South Deerfield, MA. Meetings are open to all beekeepers.

September – no meeting,

October 17th – Annual Business meeting @ Warm Colors Apiary, South Deerfield. 

November 21st – Nosema Disease – diagnosis & prevention – Debra Slocum 

December – no meeting, Holiday Party – TBA

Apimondia September 8-12, Montreal, Ontario. International honey bee conference.  Speakers, vendors, honey show and more.

Bristol County Beekeepers Association September 24th, 7-9 PM. Dan Conlon, owner of WCA, will be speaking. Topics: Russian Bees & Wintering tips.

Bee Culture Magazine, October 11-12, Medina, Ohio. BC celebrates 150 years of beekeeping. History, writers and moments in the timeline of beekeeping.

Russian Honey Bee Breeders Association (RHBBA) October 31st-November 1st, Baton Rouge, LA. Annual meeting of RHBBA at the ARS-USDA Bee Lab.

OPEN HOURS: Regular Apiary Hours are on Wednesday, Friday & Saturdays 10AM – 5PM.  Hours are subject to change. Please call 413-665-4513 and listen to our phone message for weekly updates.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING DATES: We will be closed on the these days to participate in the following events:

CLOSED September Saturday 7th – 14th (Re-open Wednesday Sept. 18th, 10AM-5PM) – Attending Apimondia, Montreal, Canada.

CLOSED October 10th – 16th (Re-open Friday Oct. 18th) – Attending Bee Culture’s 150 year celebration of beekeeping, Medina, Ohio.

CLOSED October 30th – November 5th (re-open Wednesday Nov. 6th) – Attending the Russian Honey Bee Breeders Association annual meeting, Baton Rouge Bee Lab, Louisiana.

Look for 2020 Workshop schedule and bee ordering in December.

        Beekeeping can start young. Dan shows a future beekeeper the queen bee.

News:

• Dan Conlon interview on “Beekeeping Today”with Kim Flottum: Dan Conlon: It’s All About The Russians (Russian honey bees, that is)

• Warm Colors Apiary has received the 2018 “Local Hero Award” (farmer of the year) from CISA (Community Involved in Sustainable Agriculture) and a Congressional Award recognizing Warm Colors Apiary for our outstanding and invaluable service to the community from Congressman James McGovern. Bonita & I appreciate these honors from people and organizations we respect and support. CISA and Congressman McGovern promote nutrition, farms, and access to fresh foods for all Massachusetts residents. We share their philosophy that all people deserve fresh, nutritious food. We thank CISA and Congressman McGovern for their ongoing commitment to make local food available to all citizens.

Queen test yard #1

For the Beekeepers

Warm Colors is no longer maintaining a large inventory of beekeeping equipment at our South Deerfield store. We will continue to sell a  limited amount of equipment (only items we use in our apiaries). As our apiary has grown so has the time required to maintain our bees, produce honey and provide service to our honey customers. Getting out of equipment sales allows more time for our beekeeping. The core of our business remains honey production & raising honey bees.

Knowledge + Management = healthy bees.